Renegades in the 1997 Victorian Volleyball League
As always, a very mixed year for Renegades teams. The women led the way with all three women's sides making it into the top four and a finals berth. The Division 2 men had a successful season in this, their first year of state league competition, finishing fourth after the round robin matches. The division 1 men had just missed out on being in the top pool when the division was divided in two after round 11, and eventually came second in the second pool (overall 7th) - a good performance considering the team lost a number of players to the honours side late in the season. The Honours men finished adisappointing 8th, never quite getting it together for a full game as players came and went throughout the year.
On the weekend, the semi-finals proved to be the week of five setters, with almost all games going down to the wire and making for some memorable come-backs. It was not a great day for Renegades sides though, with three of the four Renegades teams in action losing and going out of the finals race. The Division 1 women were the exception to the rule, with a solid performance against Monbulk to come away with a 3-0 win. In the Honours women, Monbulk came back from two sets down to defeat Fairhills in a close final set and go straight into the grand-final. Despite not having former Australian players Gabe Mauerhoffer and Edi Vukosa, the Preston Honours men's team put up a great fight against Heidelberg, narrowly losing, 2-3.